Buying a New Sofa - What to Know First

What to Know Before Buying a New Sofa

As you begin your search for the right sofa, you have many factors to consider. You may think you are well informed until you reach the furniture store. Most salespeople at furniture stores are expert salespeople, not experts on furniture. You need some basic truths about sofa selection in order to get the right sofa for your room.


Almost every sofa can come in handy for a period of time. If you have a low budget and have an immediate need, you might choose a sofa that will last you for a short period of time. Be sure though, that you are willing to buy the lesser sofa in order to meet your immediate needs. Mediocre sofas will last you for at the most two years before the foam inside begins to sag and the fabric begins to fade. Is this worth even a cent of your money?

Instead, remember that you are making an investment in a sofa. The money you are putting into this sofa must be a sound investment, or you may lose more money in the long run by having to replace a substandard sofa. If you think of your sofa selection in this light, you will be able to make the best decision for your home. The four things to consider when choosing a sofa are your budget, the preferred quality, the desired appearance, and your room size.

Your budget is of great importance when it comes to the purchase of your sofa. While you should not waste your money on a mediocre sofa, you should also research the range of cost for a good sofa. If you decide that you are ready to put a large investment into your sofa, you are basically guaranteed to have a good quality sofa, with a custom appearance, and have it be the perfect size. If you want to save a little money, you can decide to sacrifice either quality, appearance, or size. The main idea is to know which one you are sacrificing by knowing the product. Most times, if you are getting too much of deal on a sofa, you can be sure that you are sacrificing either quality, appearance, or size. You have to choose your budget and know which factors are most important to you and your home.

When observing quality, you must know that quality is a variable word. What means quality to one store, will mean absolute rubbish to another. You must know about your product in order to define quality for yourself. Being aware of these following features will help you to ask the right questions when choosing a sofa.

Fabric Selection

When considering fabric selection, do they tell you what type of fabric is on the piece of furniture? If no information is provided on the fabric, what does this tell you about the quality of the fabric? If information is provided, is the type of fabric going to clean easily? Also, will it hold up after being sat on every day for four years? When a fabric has been tested for double rubs, the higher the amount of double rubs, the better the durability of the fabric.

Inside the Sofa

What type of foam is used in the backing and in the seating? Unless the foam is high density foam, it may sag within a year of purchase. If there are springs in the cushions, are they eight way hand tied? Springs are better than foam, but springs that are not tied well may become loose and cause an uncomfortable bulge in your sofa. The eight way hand tied springs are the best in sofa cushion padding.

Production

Where was the product manufactured? Overseas production can be less monitored for quality and are more likely to have manufacturing defects. Do they truly care about the product they are making? Some soft line goods are actually put together by hand not by machines. Do they stand by their products? The better companies producing sofas will actually guarantee the product against manufacturing defects and will replace or repair damaged products.

Each of these factors is important to consider when determining the quality of your sofa. Just asking informed questions of your salesperson will help them know that you are well informed and are looking for a sound investment. Some stores you will enter may have salespeople who cannot even answer the most elementary questions. You can then make the best decision and not give these second rate establishments your business. Mainly, you want to decide in advance what you believe to be quality and stand by that decision.

Another part of the sofa selection process is determining the desired appearance for your sofa. You have to decide whether you have a specific look for your room that you would like to attain, and decide whether you want to pay the money to get that look. Many furniture stores have furniture that comes in only one fabric, so you might find the fabric you want, but not the style. Or you could find the perfect style sofa, and it is in a drab fabric. You can get a neutral sofa and add accent pillows if you are trying to save money. Another option when choosing the appearance of your sofa is to go custom. Custom furniture stores will work with you to help you choose the fabric and style of your sofa. Though this option is likely to increase the price of the sofa, you may want to pay more to get the exact color, pattern, and style of sofa that you desire.

Finally, you must know what size sofa that you need before you start shopping. Salespeople will sell you the "perfect" sofa with "incredible quality" and "exactly" in your price range, and you get it back to your house and it looks like a giant compared to the other pieces in your room. Start by measuring the available floor space. Then, always consider the other pieces of furniture in the room. If you have delicate existing furniture and you come home with a monster sofa, your whole room will feel unbalanced. Also, if you have very substantial pieces of furniture and you come home with a pretty delicate sofa, the sofa may be dwarfed and seem to be out of place. Be sure to decide on the size of your sofa and not be sold on something too large or too small.

Finding the Perfect Sofa

Always know your budget, the quality you desire, the desired appearance, and your room size when you go shopping for your perfect sofa. Give yourself a range on your budget, and decide not to sacrifice quality. Find a good balance for the desired appearance and how much you would like to spend, and be creative. Finally, never forget your room size or the balance that you need to create the most attractive and functional living space. Happy shopping!

Analyzing Your Space: Elements in the Living Room

Elements in Your Living Room - Is your space for you?

If only a pair of glasses existed that was labeled “objective glasses” and once and for all we could see our space, our home clearly as others see it.  Let’s face it; our home is one of the hardest spaces in which to be objective.  Day after day, we see the mail piling up, we witness our children filling the floor with puzzles, baby doll clothes, and Thomas trains and we observe the sofa cushions that are beginning to sag with age, but within the grand scheme of things they all seem par for the course.  We could remedy these situations, but we learn to live with them and accept them.  However, through objective questioning, we can all temporarily borrow a pair of “objective glasses” and analyze our home spaces to better our day to day lives.

What is in your floor?

Working from the ground up, what items tend to hit your floor faster than anything else?  What stains appear quicker?  What items are taking up the most space?  Each of these objective questions helps you to realize the basics of what is literally in your floor.

Where do you sit?

Living rooms are meant for comfortable relaxation.  Is your seating comfortable?  Do you have enough seating?  How old is the seating in your living room?  Does everything fit well in your room?  If you cannot sit well, then the living room is not serving its function.

What do you do in the living room?

The living room is a room with many purposes and many activities occur within its borders.  What happens in your living room?  Are there any activities, such as a lively game of kick ball, that are not supposed to happen in this room?  Are you able to do everything in your living room that you would like to be able to do?  Does something need to change to allow you and your family to use the room more fully?  Just because something has always been a certain way, does not mean that it needs to continue.  Objective questions allow you to reevaluate the normal way of doing things and to find superior ways of living life.

What doesn’t belong?

What in your living room should not be taking up space?  What furniture pieces are simply filling the room and not serving a purpose?  What decorative items no longer make the room feel better, but instead more crowded?  What items are in the room for the sake of an activity that is no longer completed in the living room?  Consider this the editing stage.  Just like extra words need to be chopped out of a document, so extra decor and furniture need to be taken from a room to provide room for more decorative and more beneficial pieces.

Reaching Your . . . Objective

If you have an objective to be objective, then you have to be willing to put away feelings of attachment to home decor and furniture that have been a part of the life of the family for some time.  Home decor and furniture are there to serve a purpose; contrary to popular belief, these items are not extended family!  The moment these items stop serving their purpose, ties need to be severed.  Even if it means parting with furniture that has been in the household since college dorm days or since having your first child, you future life has no space for furniture and decor that no longer serve a function.

I hope you have enjoyed borrowing a pair of “objective glasses” while reading this blog.  I love sharing about interior design in the hopes that your home life will be bettered even in the slightest.  Feel free to submit a question for my “Tuesday: Ask an Interior Designer” blog!  This is a great way to receive objective home advice for a small question, but if you have need of more extensive design advice check out my Interior Design site www.designinglife.weebly.com to schedule a Skype session.